The Winner: Ruby Lane Designs

[Toiny]

The scores are in! For those of you anxious for the winner, skip the babbling and scroll on down (you know you want to….).

First, a quick introduction of your judges:

Guest Judge: Anita Volmer

Hello! I'm very honored to be judging for this challenge. It was very fun to do. My name is Anita Volmer and I live in the east of Holland together with my husband Vincent and our son Bas. I work as a Sales Officer at an big electrotechnical company. Things that put a smile on my face: Being silly. Random pictures. Digital anything. Napping on a rainy day. Spending my time with my family and friends whom I don't see often enough. I love making pictures and I am interested in graphic design. My life changed completely when we started the Dutch website Digiscrap.nl in 2007. It is a Dutch forum, but the shop is also in English.

Studio Judge: Tracy

I am Tracy and I am head of the Creative Team and Quality Control here at the studio. I am married to Michael, a paramedic and we have one adult son who is out of the nest. I have been designing for over 3 years, and love it and Scrapping. I started digiscrapping when we moved to Sydney Australia and didn’t have the room to paper scrap anymore. We live a quiet life as we have no family close-by but my friends at the Studio are a real life line and I consider them part of my family too. Scrapping and Design have become such a huge part of my life that I can’t really imagine them never being part of my daily routine. I also enjoy photography, reading, music and cycling (occassionally LOL)

Studio Judge: Toiny Westberry

I am the owner of Digital Scrapbooking Studio, I have an amazing husband David, five boys as well as one daughter. I design, occasionally, as Piggy Scraps Design. My number one everything is my family. I love my kids, I love my husband, I love my parents, sisters, grandparents, all who remain. I started scrapbooking, journaling, with my first born. I love having a place to go to get help with chronicling my journaling in both photo's and words. I create for me. Sometimes that translates into a scrapbooking kit that others can create with as well. I run theStudio not just to sell scrapbooking supplies but also to give everyone a place to share their memories, their families. To help people chronicle their own journeys and stories. It is home-away-from-home.

We will start with our Studio Designer: Angel Hartline. Here is what the judges have to say:



Challenge Criteria:

Anita	This kit has fantastic wordart and fun elements. I think you can use this kit for ALL occasions. It is very versatile.
Tracy	I found the kit was loosely based on the theme, but it does make it versatile for scrapping other themes too.
Toiny	For me this kit was peace & quiet. The wordart, usually my least favourite, encourage relaxation and fulfilled the theme beautifully.

Color Palette Use:

Anita	Love this color palette. Personally I wouldn't use the darker color too much because I feel more relaxed with the softer, lighter colors. But I love how Angel used these colors.
Tracy	The yellow of the daisy is a little brighter than the color palette but in my honest opinion, it’s close enough.
Toiny	I love that you used the darker colors. It gave the whole kit a cool, quiet, serene feeling.

Scrapability:

Anita	That wordart is so nice; love this '1942' font, and that element of barcode is so cool. The flowers are so real, fantastic also in combination with the subtle leaf. And wow, I love paper 6!!
Tracy	I did Struggle a little scrapping with all of the kit. Nice combinations of the colors and good balance of dark and light choices in both Papers and Elements, well done Angel
Toiny	The papers made scrapping with this kit a breeze, and again, did I mention the fantastic wordart?

Preview Appeal:

Anita	Preview is perfect. A big compliment for you Angel.
Tracy	Nice job on the preview, all the info, papers and elements are there.
Toiny	The shadowing on the previewing really drew attention to the elements. Well done.

And now on to our challenger, Amber, Ruby Lane Designs. Here is what the judges have to say:



Challenge Criteria:

Anita	You immediately get 'the feeling' freedom and relaxing. Perfect harmony for this theme. Brilliant paperwork.
Tracy	Good selection of themed elements in the soft palette given.
Toiny	I love the use of the themed elements and the scenic paper, immediate gives the feel of a Mountain Retreat.

Color Palette Use:

Anita	Love the use of lighter colors. Some elements have the patterns or textures from the papers. This brings harmony in this kit
Tracy	I found that the palette was kept true though-out the kit pieces.
Toiny	Great job on the soft colors, especially the “pop” of the yellow is well done.

Scrapability:

Anita	Although the size of papers 2 and 3 were slightly off-size. I found these amazing! Perfect pattern for paper 4, gorgeous color combination, terrific polkadots paper 5. These papers are all so sophisticated! And I loved the transparency of the candle, surprising!
Tracy	Good Selection of both elements and papers including a mixture of patterns and plainer papers that helped balance the kit. I found this kit easy to scrap with. Well done Amber.
Toiny	I found the papers & themed items easy to mix in, they almost scrapped themselves. I did miss having more flowers to cluster with.

Preview Appeal:

Anita	This preview is gorgeous! So well positioned; everything is in balance, and well shown. Also a big compliment for you Amber.
Tracy	Nice job on the preview, all the info, papers and elements are there.
Toiny	I liked the elements being a little more scattered, gave me a good grasp of what I would find inside. Nice work!

All that being said, this was an extremely difficult challenge to judge, and the judges wound up being only one point apart. Can we have a huge round of applause for the winner of this very well-fought Challenge? Amber – Ruby Lane Designs.


Amber will be our Guest Designer for the whole month of September. As winner of this super fun, challenging, competition she receives 100% commission on all her sales. Including her brand-new mini: Mountain Retreat.

Please look for our newsletter tomorrow, Wednesday, to receive some fun freebies created with both Mountain Retreat mini’s! Also check this forum for a sampler freebie and Challenge with the mini's.

Again a big thank you to our judges, Anita of Digiscrap.nl, Tracy my right-hand man, and, um, me. An even bigger thank you to both Angel, Angel Hartline Designs, and Amber, Ruby Lane Designs, for their hard work and beautiful sportsmanship. Kudo’s ladies on a job well done.

[Angeltown]

A huge congrats, Amber!!! A well deserved win - you did a beautiful job!

Thanks again for picking me - it will be a ton of fun working with you this month!

[Amber Shaw]

Originally Posted by Angeltown

A huge congrats, Amber!!! A well deserved win - you did a beautiful job!

Thanks again for picking me - it will be a ton of fun working with you this month!

Thank you Angel, although I must admit I thought I would be saying this to you. I loved your rendition! I enjoyed participating in this with you and too look forward to working with you this month!

Thank you to all of the judges for you comments and compliments. I can imagine this was an extremely tough job!

To all of the customers here at The Studio, I look forward to brining you quality items and a few surprises in the forum as well!

[Twin Mom Scraps]

you both did an amazing job! love both kits! congrats girls

[kimberkatt]

Congratulations Amber! Job well done, both of you!! I love that the judges comments were included, everyone has such a different point of view! And to only be a one point difference, that must have been one heck of a judging!!

I've already had a play with both of these kits and I can honestly tell you I have NO IDEA how they even judged! Each kit brings something unique, and they both mesh together beautifully!! Don't take my word for it... check out the Speed Scrap Challenge and grab yourselves an awesome sampler from these two kits!

[crazsquaw]

Congrats Amber...that is an awesome looking kit!!

[debbyann73]

Congrats Amber ......you both did an amazing job !

[Min]

Congratulations, Amber!

Wow, what a close result, only one point difference ... and it's true, both kits are wonderful!

[SnipsNSnails]

Congrats Amber! Both kits are gorgeous, it must have been a really hard decision! Well done!

[boo.6204]

Congrats Amber, gorgeous mini. It'll be lovely to see you here again.

Fabulous job with your creation too Angel. I would not have liked to be judging this one.

[SkrapperDigitals]

Congratulations Amber! beautiful kit, Wonderful kit as well, Angel! totally beautiful work as always ladies

[redplaid3]

Hard choice...both are lovely. Thanks for sponsoring this!

[DarleneH]

Both kits are lovely. Congrats to Amber!

[lala_ina]

Both kits are amazing. Congrats for both of you

[JoannesDigitalDesigns]

WOW, that is one gorgeous kit Amber! Congratulations!!!!

Hugs,
Joanne

[DigiliciousDesigns]

Congrats, Amber! Beautiful job, ladies - you're both winners IMO

[Heatheranne]

Congratulations Amber! It's a gorgeous kit!

Both kits are awesome! :-)

[Cabalistic]

As already said above, both were stunning kits. Congrats to Amber for the win!

[Aveziur]

Congrats Amber, both minis are fantastic. I would not compete against any of you

[LLPooh1]

Congratulations, Amber! I'm so excited for you!! I love the mini and can't wait to pick it up! I think I'll pick up both of them, since they are both great.